Amarnath Yatra ends with 12-year footfall high of 5.1 lakh devotees
The number of pilgrims visiting the shrine have been on an increasing trend from the past three years with 4.45 lakh pilgrims visiting in 2023 and 3.65 lakh in 2022
The annual Amarnath pilgrimage concluded on Monday with over 5 lakh pilgrims paying obeisance at the shrine in Himalayas.
The yatra ended as “Chari Mubarak”, the silver mace believed to be of Lord Shiva, reached the cave shrine where prayers were held on the occasion of Shravan Purnima, coinciding with the festival of Raksha Bandhan.
The Chari Mubarak, carried by mahant swami Deependra Giri, had started its journey from Dashnami Akhara temple in Srinagar on August 14 and the final journey towards the shrine had started on August 16 from Pahalgam.
The footfall for the yatra this year is the highest in the past 12 years. “Some 5.1 lakh pilgrims performed the darshan in the cave this year,” an official said.
The 52-day Hindu pilgrimage had started on June 29 amid high security, with people from across the country and outside coming to pay their obeisance at the cave shrine housing a naturally forming ice stalagmite shiva lingam.
The cave shrine is situated at a height of 3,880m in the Himalayan mountains of south Kashmir. Lakhs of pilgrims pass through snow-capped glaciers and ice-cold waters during summer months to complete the yatra.
The pilgrims usually trek 36 km to the mountainous paths from the Pahalgam base camp in south Kashmir while from central Kashmir’s Baltal side, the route is shorter but steeper with yatris having to trek just 14 km.
The administration as well as security agencies have been regularly taking review meetings and meeting yatris for ensuring proper arrangements.
Yatris would travel in the form of convoys from Jammu to Kashmir with fool-proof security, besides arrangements for road-opening parties, area-domination parties, security at camping sites and installation of CCTVs at strategic locations.
Authorities had also provided health services along the treacherous tracks. Directorate of health services Kashmir recorded over 2 lakh OPD patients along both the Pahalgam and the Baltal routes. “More than 17,000 people were recorded under short stay admissions which mainly availed supplemental oxygen therapy due to symptoms of high altitude disease along with basic day care medical services. Around 3,807 patients were treated for injuries and 26,918 patients underwent various diagnostic tests,” said a health department spokesperson.
The number of pilgrims visiting the shrine have been on an increasing trend from the past three years with 4.45 lakh pilgrims visiting in 2023 and 3.65 lakh in 2022. While 2021 and 2020 were pandemic years, pilgrim footfall during 2019 was 3.42 lakh when the yatra was abruptly cut short by government ahead of the revocation of article 370 on August 5, 2019. The highest ever number of pilgrims to visit the shrine was in 2011 and 2012 at 6.35 lakh and 6.22 lakh, respectively.
In the past two decades, 2003 saw the lowest number of pilgrims, besides the Covid years, at 1.7 lakh. In 2016, only 2.2 lakh had visited as the numbers decreased after violence had gripped the valley, following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
